native son
...l crimes on other African-Americans because they know the police do not care to help black people hurting other black people. This all changes when Bigger and his gang decide to rob the store of a white man named Blum. Bigger is excited at the idea of robbing a white man for once but at the same time fears the idea. He does not want to be the one to be known as the “chicken” of the group by telling him that he has doubts about the robbery so he decides to hide his fear. Bigger knows that Gus, another member of the gang, also fears the idea so Bigger exploits Gus’ fear so the gang would not see the fear Bigger had himself. Bigger “hated Gus because he knew that Gus was afraid, … and he feared Gus because he felt that Gus would consent and then he would be compelled to go through with the robbery” (25). This passage depicts how Bigger uses Gus as a curtain to hide because of his fear. The robbery is obviously something Bigger does not want to go through with but does not want to live with his friends thinking he is not man enough. By bringing up Gus’ fear, it illustrates how much Bigger struggles to step up out of the curtains and say what is really on his mind. Along with his problems within his gang, Bigger also hides behind a curtain in regards to his family. “He hated his family because he knew that they were suffering and that he was powerless to stop them” so Bigger “held toward them an attitude of iron reserve; he lived with them, but behind a wall, a curtain” (10). As an African-American family, Bigger knows his family struggles but can do nothing about it so he hides behind his curtain. Bigger not only hides behind a curtain in regards to his family, but to almost everyone he encounters in his life, especially whites. Bigger doesn’t trust or understand Jan and Mary because they attempt to make him come out from his curtain, and because of this he “really hated them” (71). Although Bigger is usually hiding behind his curtain, at times he goes out. One example in which he...